RESCUE: one framework, six very different heritage sites

RESCUE (Horizon Europe, 101289718) starts in January 2027, so no scenario workshops have run yet. This case covers what has been done: designing a framework that six Living Labs can use without becoming six separate projects.

The problem. Intangible heritage supports resilience in different ways in different places. Heritage in wartime Ukraine, Sámi heritage in Finland and Lithuanian wooden architecture do not share one indicator set. A framework loose enough for all six risks saying nothing about any of them.

The answer in the proposal. The RESCUE Nexus crosses three impact domains (societal resilience, climate adaptation and mitigation, sustainable local economies) with three resilience capacities (absorptive, adaptive, transformative). Each Living Lab places its practices in the 3×3 grid. The result is a Resilience Capacity Profile, which can be compared across sites without forcing the sites to look alike.

The six Living Labs. Ukraine, Time Machines, Lithuanian wooden heritage, Trentino, Sámi Finland and Adriatic Italy. The Lithuanian lab is run with the Wooden Architecture Centre.

What is already settled. Five of the twelve partners worked together in DIGICHer, so the co-creation methods carry over. The ethics review asked for an external Ethics Advisor and a separate ethics work package (WP13), which is now in the grant text.

Participio is a partner in RESCUE as its community engagement and citizen science partner. The project starts in January 2027.